Saskatchewan
Opposing protests about public health mandates remain peaceful at Legislative Building
Concrete barricades have been put in place to prevent vehicle access
People from two opposing protests are outside the Legislative Building in Regina Saturday afternoon — one group calling for an end to COVID-19 public health measures while the other asks they remain in place.
At about 2 p.m., there were hundreds of demonstrators asking for an end to mandates while a smaller group countered their calls. So far, the conflicting protests appear to be peaceful.
Concrete barricades currently block vehicles from accessing the Legislative Building.
Some anti-mandate protesters arrived in Regina as part of several convoys. Organizers say they plan to stay in the area until all public health restrictions in Saskatchewan are lifted.
Demonstrators calling for an end to mandates are carrying signs with messages such as "Unmask the Hoax" and "Vaxx Useless."
Premier Scott Moe has already promised to lift all restrictions soon.
Kristen Dube, an anti-mandate protester who drove to the event from Saskatoon, says she is vaccinated and her partner is not.
"I think people wearing masks, people not wearing masks, vaccinated, unvaccinated as a couple, we can still unite our country and we can still stand for more than just COVID," Dube said.
"We need to support our hospitals. We need to support our health-care workers that have been on those front lines. And I think that the money that's currently being spent on COVID passports alone should be allocated to things that are more useful to us as a community and as people of Canada and Saskatchewan."
Aran McCallen also made the trip down to Regina from Saskatoon.
"I believe in freedom of choice. I don't think that the government should be able to force you to do anything," McCallen said.
Pro-mandate protesters
At the same time, a second protest called Take Action Against COVID is calling for the provincial government to do the opposite and maintain the public health measures that Premier Scott Moe is planning to abandon.
Organizers of that event say the premier is doing away with mandates to "please anti-vax extremists." They say the vaccine passport has to be kept so that businesses can keep both customers and staff safe.
"We need public health measures to protect people and our economy in the middle of a pandemic. We need a provincial government that listens to its own experts and does not abandon us or our children to Omicron," organizers said in an email notice about the protest.
"We need leaders who will not let our medical system burn down around us by letting critical-care doctors and nurses burn out at record speed."
Signs carried by pro-mandate demonstrators say "Protect healthcare workers" and "Spread [love]."
Pro-mandate organizers are calling for the premier and his ministers to resign if they do not maintain COVID-19 mandates and restrictions in the province.
"I'm here because I want the freedom protesters to know that they don't represent me … I believe that with the rights that we do have … we have responsibilities to everybody else that lives in our country, our province, our world," said Krista Notenboom, a pro-mandate demonstrator from Regina.
"I'm frustrated about the restrictions and the pandemic, and continuing to have to wear masks. But I'm not willing to not look after my fellow citizens to get rid of my mask."
Lukas Miller, a health-care worker who showed up to back COVID-19 restrictions and mandates, says he wants Moe to listen to doctors and scientists.
"Basically every day of my job since COVID started has been doing research on COVID-19 — efficacy of vaccines, how much it spreads — and I see a lot of that information, and I don't really know how Scott Moe is coming up with the decisions he has, based on what I've seen," Miller said.
"Now, I'm not an expert, but neither is he, so I think people need to listen to our medical community a little closer."
Protesters against, for COVID restrictions gather near Legislature
Protesters near the Legislature in Regina on Feb. 5, 2022. (Dominick Lucyk/980 CJME)
It didn’t bring the kind of massive gridlock and constant noise that the previous one did, but there was another protest against COVID restrictions at the Legislature in Regina on Saturday.
People gathered on Albert Street by the entrance to the legislative grounds to hold signs and wave, while those who supported their cause drove by and honked.
None of those in trucks or other vehicles were able to enter the grounds of the Legislature, because it was blocked off with a concrete barrier. That was because of the Frost Regina winter festival.
There was also another, smaller group of protesters that came to call on the Moe government to keep up COVID restrictions like a vaccine passport and mandatory masking.
It was led by Saskatchewan Liberal Party Leader Jeff Walters.
Former Saskatchewan Party MLA Greg Brkich showed up in support of those who want to end the mandates.
When asked what he thought of Premier Scott Moe’s recent hints at ending COVID restrictions, he said he’d love to see it, but he still felt the need to put pressure on the provincial government.
“It sends a message to him. That’s why I came, (to) tell him it’s time. Instead of waiting two, three, four, five weeks, it’s time now. That’s why I came, to tell him it’s time to lift them. Lift the mandates and move on,” Brkich said.
As a long-time MLA, Brkich believes in getting in touch with politicians when you want to see change.
“I tell people, ‘Phone your MLA,’ because that counts. You may not think it does, but you write down the calls you get, and then you talk at caucus. And all of the MLAs sit around, ‘Yeah, I got 200 calls, I got 100, I got 300,’ ” he said.
Walters was on the opposite end. He said now is just not the time to be easing up on the virus.
“At the end of the day, we’re still in the midst of the peak of a pandemic as we talk right now. To have our leaders in government right now essentially suggesting they’re pulling back everything, in the midst of a raging pandemic, to me just makes absolutely no sense and it goes against the advice of almost every expert on the planet,” he said.
When asked what would be needed to reach a point where restrictions can be lifted, Walters didn’t name anything specific.
“Thresholds are interesting because you can go down that rabbit hole, and you’re never going to please everybody when you talk thresholds. But the point of it is, if you have, say, a health and social policy council made up of experts and advisors that can tackle those issues and give you options, as a leader that makes the most sense,” he said.
“I don’t think politicians necessarily are experts in science or medicine, and I think that we should leave it to the experts to help us guide through it.”
Protesters on both sides who preferred to stay anonymous also shared their thoughts.
980 CJME asked a man in favour of dropping COVID rules why he chose to protest, given Moe’s promises to do just that.
“As long as he’s true to his word. We’ve seen so much lying from politicians all across this country. I hope he’s true to his word, because the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been stepped on,” he said.
A man on the other side of the debate said now is just not the time.
“I’m all for restrictions being lifted. They have to be lifted at some point. But right now, Saskatchewan is leading the way in hospitalizations, as far as they’re increasing at a faster rate than anywhere else in Canada. We should be looking at hospitalizations and ICU admissions, and then, once those are going down, then we should be looking at lifting restrictions,” he said
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